YouTube goes e-commerce with Amazon, iTunes

YouTube is placing “buy” links on its video pages like a grocery store puts candy bars in the checkout aisle. The hope is that you just can’t resist an easy purchase.

YouTube, which boasts a vast audience, is partnering with Amazon.com and iTunes to sell music, games, books and movies. After this first platform is established, YouTube plans to move on to broader e-commerce.

When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where they can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it.

…We’re taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding “click-to-buy” links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos.

With the move, YouTube will expand its revenue streams beyond advertising, but it’s not clear how much YouTube will make off of each transaction. Google Inc. bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.

By partnering with YouTube, Amazon MP3 expands its reach to online music buyers. Amazon has already recently partnered with MySpace to sell music. (Users can listen to music for free on MySpace Music, but if they pay to download a song to a player, Amazon handles the transaction.)

As for the YouTube deal, users will see Amazon and iTunes product links alongside videos of artists. The links are available in the U.S., and will soon be available internationally.